Blog

Plenty of factors can contribute to fatigue, like lack of sleep or exercise. But did you know hearing loss also plays a role? It’s true, and has to do with “cognitive load.”

Cognitive load refers to the amount of mental effort being used in the working memory: the short-term memory used to plan and make decisions. Hearing loss forces the person to “steal” finite working memory to make sense of speech and other inputs throughout the day. This load is even greater in noisy environments.

The additional effort puts stress and anxiety on the listener, resulting in a rush of adrenaline and muscle tension that can lead to feeling “drained” or physically tired at the end of the day.